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With the director Mieko, in front of the entrance — With the director *Mieko*, in front of the entrance

We visited Tsukahara Onsen “Kakó no Izumi” in Yufuinchō Tsukahara, Yufu, Ōita. It is located on Tsukahara Plateau.

Mieko kindly welcomed us at the reception. She is the director of the company operating Kakó no Izumi. Pay the entrance fee to get in the bath.

The dressing room is simple, but well maintained and clean.

The open-air bath is filled with the light-green water which is the second strongest acidic hot spring in Japan with the pH value of 1.4. You can hardly experience such an acidic hot spring. When you get in the bath, please taste the water, it is amazingly sour! According to the local lore, this hot spring was discovered by Minamoto no Tametomo in the Heian period while he was hunting deer. He found a deer soaking in a pond to cure the wounds, then he found this hot spring.

Not only being strong acid, the water contains the largest amount of iron ions and the second largest amount of aluminium ions. Thanks to these minerals, the water can really smooth the skin, and it is better to take a 1 min to 2 min short soak repeatedly because the minerals get into the skin when they are dried up.

He is a flower farmer Hideaki who comes to Kakó no Izumi once a month. He says the water is good for the hair as well.
* Please note that you cannot use any soaps in Kakó no Izumi because the water is strong acid.

There is a square-shaped indoor bath. It is recommended as well.

Also, there are separated private/family baths.

There are five private/family bathrooms in total, and this is the biggest one. There are hot bath and warm bath. It is big enough for a family consisting of four people.

Tsukahara Onsen’s popular tourist food is “Kakó mushi tamago” which is an egg steamed with the hot spring. Eggs are steamed 20 hours to maximize the flavor. If you visit Tsukahara Onsen, please taste this egg. We guarantee it’ good.